The Entire History of China
From its mythical origins along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, ancient China witnessed the dawn of dynastic rule with the Xia, followed by the Shang's development of written history. The Zhou Dynasty, China's longest, fostered advancements in infrastructure and philosophy, yet eventually fractured into the Warring States period, culminating in the Qin's unification under Qin Shi Huang. Despite his centralizing reforms, the Qin's harsh rule gave way to the Han Dynasty, a golden age marked by Confucian revival, the Silk Road, and significant expansion, though internal strife and external threats led to its eventual fragmentation and the rise of the Sui.
The Sui's brief reunification paved the way for the Tang Dynasty, an era of prosperity and cultural flourishing, tragically interrupted by the An Lushan Rebellion. The subsequent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was a period of chaos until the Song Dynasty brought relative stability, experiencing economic and technological progress, but ultimately succumbing to the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Non-native rule under Kublai Khan saw increased global interaction but also ethnic discrimination, eventually overthrown by the Ming Dynasty, which restored Han rule and strengthened the Great Wall.
The second non-native dynasty, the Qing, initially prospered under rulers like Kangxi, but faced increasing Western influence in the 19th century, marked by the Opium Wars and unequal treaties, leading to internal turmoil like the Taiping Rebellion. Defeats against Japan further weakened the Qing, culminating in the Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, ending millennia of dynastic rule.
The fragile republic soon dissolved into the Warlord Era, setting the stage for the rise of the KMT and CCP, their eventual civil war, and the establishment of the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong, whose radical policies led to immense suffering. Deng Xiaoping's reforms brought economic growth, but political tensions persisted. The rise of Xi Jinping marks a new era of consolidated power and increasing global influence for China.
It seems that China just cannot get it's act together. It's gone from Dynastic rulers to war lords to the CCP which has disintigrated to a strong man oligarh masking up as a Communist.
The USA has gone from a relatively prosperous democracy, to an oppresive world interfereing bully nation, to an oligarchy of selfish billionaires, supported by a veneer of evangelical religiousity.